Say What
Say What? MU* Podcasting Brody of jointhesaga.com gave this presentation at FidoCon II on Nov. 30, 2007: Brody cracks his knuckles. "And so we meet again! A while back, I was minding my own business when I got an email from Javelin - the creator of PennMUSH - about a new project he was working on. TinyTalk, he called it. It's a periodic podcast where he talks about stuff related to MUSHing, roleplaying, story hooks, and other issues in text-based gaming. And it was excellent. He's got a great voice for it and he has the technical know-how to put on a high-quality podcast." Brody says, "This came on the heels of seeing Sanvean over at Armageddon putting on video blogs at YouTube about her game." Brody says, "So, after listening to TinyTalk for a few episodes and watching the Armageddon video blogs, I decided - what the hell! Let's do one for the games at jointhesaga.com." kyndig smiles sheepishly and waits for the podcast list. Brody is up to five episodes as of this week. "I've got an okay voice, I think, and I never seem to be short of material, but I'm a rank amateur when it comes to the tech behind it. I've got a set of Logitech headphones with a mic, a copy of Audacity recording software (it's free and easy to use), and a page at podbean.com. That's all it took to add another promotional tool to my games, and opened a new method for connecting with existing players and potential newbies. Brody says, "You can find my podcast at http://jointhesaga.podbean.com. You can check out TinyTalk at http://community.pennmush.org/node/529. And the Armageddon video blogs are at http://youtube.com/watch?v=ko1jGL4InGo" Brody says, "Audacity can be downloaded at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/" Brody grins. "Any questions?" Scourge says, "the links going to be on the convention logs later? :)" kyndig says, "Do you know other mush related casts?" Brody says, "Scourge: Yep." Kensei raises a hand, to get in line after Kyndig. Brody says, "Kyndig: Besides mine and Jav's? Nope. I'd love to learn about more, of course." Brody says, "Go ahead, Kensei." Kensei says, "Could you elaborate on the 'connecting to players' aspect of the podcasts? Do you take emails from players, or anything like that?" Brody says, "That's an excellent question. First, I just mean: I'm the head developer of the games and it's me talking to them with my own voice, not just some spectral block of text. I apparently come off as much less of a scary hardass once people hear me talking, for example. That's good and bad, I guess. Second, yes, I do take questions from players and I answer them." kyndig raises hand. Kensei nods. Brody nods at Kyndig. "Go ahead." kyndig says, "Have you thought about interactive casting? Podcast's are great for archival usage. What do you think about actual streaming online radio?" Brody says, "Let's just say I'm crawling before I walk, and then I'll walk before I run. The first step will be learning the ropes of solo podcasting. After that, I plan to do some more interactive stuff using Skype and PowerGramo, where I actually interview staffers and players for the recorded podcast. Beyond that, once I get comfortable with the tools, I might consider streaming live podcasts." Odin raises a hand. Brody nods at Odin. Odin says, "Mostly curiosity: Do you prep a script beforehand now? Maybe it's just me listening to the podcasts religiously but you're using a lot less 'ums' and such now. Or did you always use a script and are just adjusting to how podcasting works for you?" Brody chuckles. "I script. I'm just getting more comfortable with it, that's all." Brody says, "The first episode, I sound like I'm sprinting or something." Brody says, "Hihere'smypodcastisn'titcool?Yeah,Ithinkitmightbefuntodoitthanksforlisteningkthxbye!" Brody says, "With each new podcast, though, I get more comfortable with my voice and I write less for the page and more for talking." Brody says, "Again, I can't say enough about how impressed I am with TinyTalk - Jav just dove right in to the deep end of the pool and swam like a champ. He even dramatized one of the OtherSpace roleplaying logs, using our players to do the voices. That was pretty cool. Now I have to find something to match or exceed it!" Brody says, "Any other questions?" Kallyn2 quirks a brow. "That sounds awesome..." And then she looks that up. Kensei raises a hand. Brody says, "Kensei?" Kensei says, "Do you have any other feelings about how the podcasts affect your relationship to the players? Do you feel a little more exposed with players getting that much closer to you personally?" MeiMei thinks you should dramatize more logs. That'd be freaking awesome. Kallyn2 agrees with Mei. Kallyn2 would love to help if she had a freakin microphone. Brody grins at Kensei. "The benefits far outweigh ANY cost to my gruff old man reputation. It's part of building a community, and part of that is establishing some familiarity. I'm not their boss, exactly, and this certainly isn't a workplace. They're supposed to be here to have fun, within reason. I'm the host of the party. Why shouldn't they know more about me? When you go to a kegger, do you really feel comfortable if the host lurks in the attic, never comes down, and yells at you through a hole in the ceiling that you're getting stains on the coffee table? No, you kinda want to know what they're all about, what makes them tick." Kensei nods to Brody. Brody says, "As for dramatizing more logs...that could be fun. Audacity has some tools for voice filtering. Who knows? I might even be able to pull off a Zangali." Kensei says, "Like a renaissance of old radio theatre." Brody nods. "Indeed." Brody says, "And, again, if you get a good podcast going, you can reach people who've never heard of MUDs before, and get them hooked." Brody has seen some interesting stuff done as podcasts even on World of Warcraft. "There are some folks on the Earthen Ring server who run a streaming audio radio show, with music and everything. I'm just leery of the RIAA and music copyright issues." Bahamut says, "And anything that has a © next to it. :>" Brody chuckles. Brody says, "Any more questions?" Brody says, "Hearing none, that concludes this discussion! The next event scheduled tonight is at 8:30 in the MU*Wiki room of the Exhibit Hall. Oddly enough, I'll be talking about the MU*Wiki!" Brody says, "Thanks for attending!" category:FidoCon 2007